Dem Bones

Today (actually, last night and this morning), we talked all about our skeleton!

We added leg bones onto our tracings and felt how our knee caps move as we put the parts together.

Then we used a rotisserie chicken for dinner (with dumplings - mmm) and for science!  

First, we tried to break one of the chicken's big leg bones.

Even Daddy couldn't do it!

Then, we broke a little bone apart and looked at the marrow inside.

We examined the chicken's ribcage and talked about how it protected his lungs just like our ribs do. 

Why doesn't this scientist's mother push up her sleeves?  Ew.

Then we focused on our backbones and how they can bend and curve.

This is difficult as the Academy students are very ticklish.

We made a model of our spine: vertebrae, disk, vertebrae, disk, etc. with a spinal cord through the middle.  (We used spools and paper circles)

We compared this with a picture and talked about how the disks protect the vertebrae from rubbing together.

Our spine can be straight or can curve and bend! 

(Next time, we will leave less slack in the cord.  Our spine was a little too bendy!)

My Heart is Happy

We did have school today, but this weekend was our best lesson yet.  Zoe and I have been working hard on a project to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (read last week's post if you wonder why it's important to us).  We talked about a lemonade stand, and Zoe decided she wanted to sell Fuschia lemonade (her favorite color, and one I still can't get a consistent answer on how to spell).

Long story short, we made lots of lemonade from our super secret recipe, set up in the hot Texas sun at Lucy's soccer game, and pulled in $140!  We had been brainstorming about how to let other people visit the lemonade stand if they couldn't come to the game and came up with this website:

peace, love, and lemonAID

...and the girl has raised over $300.  It has been amazing to watch her take on this project.  When we were counting the cash after the game, she said "Mom, my heart is SO happy to help Avery's doctors so much."

Cystic Fibrosis Day!

Cystic Fibrosis is close to our heart here at the Academy since our very own Avery has it.  We thought we should learn more about it since we are busy raising money (more on that soon!) and learning all about our lungs, so Ms. Abby was our visiting professor today!  Lucky us!

Everyone who wanted to took a turn on Avery's "shakey" vest.  

It was a little unnerving at first, but a little fun too.

We all tried on her "puff puff" mask. 

We talked about how the mask and vest break up the mucus in her lungs.

Then Avery handed each of her friend an enzyme pill.  

We broke them open and looked at what was inside.

We counted out 20 pills - that's how many she takes every day.

 Then, we saw air go in and out of the bag as we filled and emptied our lungs.

We blew in the straw to measure how much air was inside our lungs.

And we pulled up and down on the diaphragm to fill and empty this model of our lungs. 

What a wonderful day.  Thanks very much for teaching us, Ms. Abby and Avery!

If you show a girl a picture...

This is an example of our "morning work" that I leave on the table every night.  They come in on their own and get to work.  It is usually something they can do without help, and they enjoy easing into the day where they can chat and snack and take their time.

Zoe and I took a long time on math (we finished a chapter!) and spelling (she is breezing through it), so Lucy got to pick any game to play with me when we were done.  She picked this one which is a fun memory/puzzle/animal game.

Then, we tried making a picture from this book.  I love the idea of it, but boy was it too tough for us today.  We needed bigger circles for one thing, and we needed to start with the simple 2 piece bird, not the one with the long fancy tail.  In the end, it was a good thinking exercise, but it might go back on the shelf for a bit.

Zoe's reading is coming along.  She is breaking down long words (like alligator) and figuring them out much easier these days.

Today, we added a uterus and ovaries to our bodies.  We were fascinated to learn that girls are the only ones with these parts and LOVED looking at the pictures in our  human body book of a baby growing in the uterus.  Then, we reviewed each part we've learned so far.

...and here's why I love homeschool.  We looked at pictures of me pregnant with each of them the day before they were born and of us holding them the day after.  They were mesmerized.  This of course, led to more baby pictures and video, which led to finding video of each of them singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc. etc. etc.

Our very own washing machine!

Today, we learned about our kidneys!  They are washing machines and wash out our blood.  Then, they send the clean blood back to circulate around the body and send the waste to the bladder.  We were fascinated to learn that Roy only has one kidney and hopefully it can keep working hard to clean all the blood and won't have to use the dialysis machine to help!

We read books, colored, and added the kidneys and bladder to our tracings.

Then, to see how they worked, we crushed chalk and added water to make dirty blood.

We poured the dirty blood on the coffee filter (the kidney).

We watched as clean blood dripped through and the waste stayed on top. 

(Zoe traces the route the waste takes to the bladder).

Planting Season

I could totally be that neighbor who lets the brush grow up and over the whole house.  I could not care less about gardening.  But in the fall, when I asked Zoe what she wanted to learn in homeschool, she said, "Grow a garden."  Ugh.  So we are preparing for our upcoming plant unit by growing a garden.  Daddy built a planter this weekend, and we added soil and planted seeds (we did buy a few tomato and strawberries that had already sprouted).  Hopefully everything won't be dead by next week.

Have a heart

Today, Zoe read her book by herself at her table!

And this is what happened when I dared to help her with a word.

Needless to say, we are building confidence.

Lucy practiced her reading

We loved our new spring sensory bin.  Lots of hatching going on.

Then, we learned all about our hearts!  We read some books, watched a short video about it, and carefully colored them before adding them on our traced selves.

We looked carefully for veins under our tongues and even on our eyes!  

Thanks Speece School for the great idea!

We listened to our own heart before and after jumping 15 times.

And listened to each other's hearts too.  Thanks, Abby for the stethoscope!

If I Only Had a Brain...

Well, today, we learned that we DO have a brain!  We added a brain and brain stem to our cut-outs.  Then, we talked about all the ways our brain helps us: learning to talk and walk, deciding what things smell and taste like, and how to pick up and put down markers (this was our favorite).

We looked at lots of pictures of the brain and felt how our hard skull kept it safe from bumps (or knocks on the head).  We also talked about all the different parts of the brain and which parts we had already used today.

 

Then, we had a little puzzle time and a little iPad time while I had some one-on-one time with each girl.

In spelling today, we learned that when you hear a "z" sound at the end of a word, you usually use an "s" instead of a "z" - a little disappointing since Z is obviously our favorite letter, but still good to know.

Lucy did some graphing and patterns with these workbooks.  They are working SO well for us and keep her interest much more than traditional work.  Lucy catches on quickly to any concept but she doesn't enjoy writing, cutting, or even coloring much, so these have been a good find.

After that (and math, journaling, and some other work), we went to lunch and to see Gnomio and Juliet with some friends.  A fun day!

Do you have eyebrows?

We were back at work at home today.  It was nice to be back in our own school room (although we did miss the ocean breeze and view).

We reminded ourselves of where we've been:

And where we are:

Zoe and Daddy finished the place unit chapter in Math at the beach

(can you hear the angels and Mommy singing??)

So we started a new one on addition today.  MUCH EASIER.

75% Off Books is going out of business and had a 50% off lowest price sale!  I stocked up but these (or actually the 80's version of these) were my favorite find.  Lucy loved them and went on a hunt for N items around the house.

Then, we started our unit on our bodies!  

We traced ourselves, weighed ourselves (students only),  and measured our height.

We talked about our faces: eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes (boys have them too!), noses, mouths, teeth, and tongue.  We used a mirror, drew our faces, and added them to our bodies.